Love 4Ever
by FearIMightBreak
Summary: Previously Love 4 dead- The remainder of the original survivors come back into contact with the second set after the passing. After everything that has happened, they begin depending on each other during the Apocalypse in more ways than one... COMPLETED FINALLY!
1. Chapter 1 Bill's Demise

**Chapter 1- Bill's Demise**

_"Bill! No!"_ Zoey cried as bill sprinted towards the generator. She tried to run after him but was held back by the other two. As the three gigantic tanks grew closer to the survivors, Bill reached the generator and tried to start it.

_"C'mon bill, you gotta make it!"_ Louis mumbled, getting agitated as the events began to unfold in front of them. Then one of the tanks had jumped far up into the air, causing what looked like an eclipse of the moon, it then descended to the ground at a very fast pace, until striking the ground causing everything to shake. Bill stumbled, then as he was about to run, the fist of one of the tanks forced him into the room behind him and the other tanks gathered into the room. As Bill made one last cry in pain, Zoey screamed, but Louis and Francis both winced in shock, trying to keep hold of their emotions.

The bridge was raised, so none of the infected could reach them. The remaining survivors stood there, holding onto each other for support. Then Louis collapsed to the floor in pain, he had injured his foot. Francis let go of Zoey to attend to Louis' injury. _"Oh my god, what did you do?"_ Francis asked, lifting up the torn fragments of Louis' trouser-leg._ "A witch got my foot when we were at the sailboats..."_ Louis replied, wincing in pain as Francis bandaged it. Zoey still stood in the same place, not making any movements, but her eyes fixated on the building containing bill's body.

A quiet cry was heard from the building, this caught all of their attention at once, _"It can't be... Bill?"_ Francis turned to the others,_ "I'll go check!"._ Then he climbed down from the bridge, clutching an AK-47 in his gloved hands, ready to shoot any infected that came his way. He approached the building slowly, checking his ammunition and waiting to see if any zombies were close by, then he reached the door. It was covered in dents and scratches from the amount of infected trying to open it._ "Moronic assholes!"_ Francis mumbled under his breath, and then swung the door open. Bill was sat up against the generator's propeller, m16 on his lap and a cigarette in his mouth, a dim light at the end. _"Bill?"_ Francis spoke, half-expecting a reply. A light growl began which grew louder and more frantic. Francis turned around to see a skeletal woman standing up and shaking. The witch! Francis ran out of the door as the witch screamed and began swinging her bloodied claws at Francis, luckily missing him._ "Get away from me you crazy bitch!"_ Francis turned around and kicked her in the chest but it didn't stop her attack, so he tried to shoot at her, but the damage didn't take effect. Louis took hold of a sniper rifle and held the scope to his eye, got an aim of the witches head and took a shot. The witch screamed again and slumped to the floor._ "I hate witches."_ Francis growled at the corpse the climbed back up the bridge. Then a blue car with a white stripe running down the middle arrived, and 4 survivors came out...


	2. Chapter 2 Discovering

Chapter 2-discovering

Zoey snapped into action and went to the edge of the bridge, resting her arms on the metal fencing. A man in a dirty white suit and blue shirt said to lower the bridge, but Zoey replied "sorry. I can't lower the bridge."  
The man rolled his eyes.  
"That's terrific, cupcake. Look, is there a man up there we can talk to?" He said, trying to anger her, and it was working. "I could shoot you where you stand."  
"Hey, lighten up. Man, no one can take a joke anymore." The man shrugged pathetically and turned away. Then a kind-looking man approached the bridge. "Hello, miss" he stammered in a southern accent and blushed slightly."Is there any way we can... Umm... lower the bridge?" Zoey looked down at him and smiled slightly. "You would need to refuel a generator on the other side of the river so we can lower the bridge. Good luck!"  
As the 4 new survivors slowly disappeared into the horizon, the three got together and made a plan. "I don't think we should go down there!" Zoey suggested. "We can't trust them enough and we can't just leave louis here."  
Francis nodded and replied. "Then what are we going to do?" They all though for a moment, then Zoey clicked, "why don't we defend them from the balcony on that building, just shoot enemies and give them supplies when needed?" Both louis and francis nodded in agreement, now all they had to do was wait...  
A while later the others came back, with a horde chasing them while trying to refuel the generator which caused bill's death. Soon the generator was refuelled and the bridge was lowered, allowing them to pass through. The 4 gathered into the car and drove off, leaving the 3 wondering if they should have gone with them. Zoey wandered into the building to find some food and water, francis followed to help and Louis stayed outside in case of more infected.  
"... Zoey? How ya holdin' up?" Francis asked sheepishly, as Zoey looked as though she was going to break any minute. Zoey turned to the heavily-tattooed biker and sighed, "I really don't want to talk about it..." She replied, and continued to search through the boxes. Just then Louis gave a cry for help, zoey and francis ran out onto the balcony to see louis squirming on the floor as a hunter was clawing at his torso...


	3. Chapter 3 Goodbye

Chapter 3- Goodbye

"Shit! Louis!" They both exclaimed, shooting at the infected hoodie, still scratching at the man and killing him. Zoey then punched the hunter, knocking it off louis and took rapid shots at it with her dual-wield pistols. Finally it was killed and their attention immediately turned to louis. His whole chest had been ripped open and Louis was surrounded by blood and tissue. Francis grabbed a medkit and knelt beside him.  
"Help me... Please... I'm dying!" Louis cried and began coughing up blood.  
Zoey was crying and Francis was trying hard not to do so himself. As he was about to stitch up the wound, Louis weakly grabbed his arm.  
"Don't... Bother... I'm gonna die! Don't waste... The last medkit... Please!" He breathed heavily.  
"No! What are you talking about? We can save you..." Zoey cried, but just as she said it, Louis closed his eyes and stopped breathing. Francis sighed and looked away, but Zoey screamed and cried. "Louis? Oh god!" She fell against the fence and continued to cry. After an hour, francis stood up and looked at the bridge.  
"We have to keep moving, there will be zombies coming back." He mumbled, grabbing a medkit and gathering ammunition. Zoey wiped her eyes and did the same, but taking a pipe bomb in case they needed it. They both began to walk across the bridge, the only infected there were easily killed. They followed the tyre tracks of the other survivors' car so they could be led to safety. As they reached the end, a choking cough was heard in the distance, and at the top of a building stood a man covered in tumours and emitted dark grey smoke. He gave a deep shriek then shot his extremely long tongue towards Zoey, his tongue wrapped around her body so she couldn't move.  
"Francis!" Zoey cried, and Francis turned around instantly and began to shoot at the smoker. Zoey had been dragged through the street and hit a car, alerting the horde. Francis killed the smoker and Zoey had been released and they ran into a tall building. The walls were covered in blood and dead zombies lay on the floor. The two remaining survivors searched through the rooms for an exit as more zombies ran into the building. They reached a staircase where Francis stopped and began shooting at the zombies.  
"Francis? What are you doing?" Zoey shouted, as Francis was effortlessly stopping any zombies get to the top-floor.  
"Just go! I can hold them off." Francis replied, "but hand me the pipe bomb first.". Zoey gave him the bomb and ran to the balcony. She heard Francis shout then the beeping noise of the pipe bomb. For a few seconds she heard zombies growling and the beeping noise. Then an explosion was heard, knocking Zoey over in the process. Her ears were ringing and she couldn't breathe.  
"Francis?" She called, checking to see if her was there. She gasped in shock as she saw his AK-47 on the ground, he was dead. So were Bill and Louis. She was the last one left...


	4. Chapter 4 Alone?

Chapter 4- Alone?

Zoey stood outside the smoking building and thought about everything, her friendships with the others, their deaths, and what she was going to do. She didn't need to be strong anymore, because she didn't have anyone to be strong FOR. But she didn't have a single emotion in her body, as if she was trying to be strong for herself. She vowed revenge for everything the zombie apocalypse took away from her. Her family, her friends, her life, and all of civilisation in the world. Zoey realised that she didn't have the time to stop.  
"What am I going to do?" She mumbled to herself, studying her surroundings to see what she could do. A saferoom! She hadn't been to one in a while, and it provided everything she needed; food, water, ammunition, medkit etc. Francis had the last medkit because Louis wanted to die, so she didn't have one on her at that time. She then decided to get to a safehouse, then she could find the help she needed if she was going to survive the zombie apocalypse. Then the ground began shaking and a loud roar was heard in the distance, a tank. It grabbed a adjacent car and threw it with full force towards Zoey. She managed to dodge the flying car, but then the tank came closer and batted her into a building wall with his giant fist. She hit the wall with so much force that she cried in pain, something you wouldn't usually do. It was so painful that zoey had thought she had broken every bone in her body. She could lift her arms and legs, which meant she was still able to hold a gun and walk, so she was good to go. She limped across the street and through an alleyway, killing a few zombies along the way until she reached an empty road and continued to shoot the hench tank who was 3 metres away from her. Before he could hit her again, Zoey ran into the building behind her so she could get away from the seemingly-immortal tank. She ran through the narrow hallway, which gave off the stench of rotting bodies and dried blood. It was very hard to imagine that this place was completely different a matter of weeks, people used to live here, without any concern about a freak zombie apocalypse and being dead. This thought caused a tear to form from zoey's green eyes and run down her cheek. The tank was not far behind, even though the hallway was very thin, it managed to crush the walls and ceiling with its shield-like skin and determination. She reached the back door, but before she could open it, she was forced through the closed-door by the tank, and was rolled across the floor until she hit a wall. Her sight went out of focus and her hearing was going. Zoey saw a safe-house door on the same wall she was against and desperately tried to crawl to it. She slowly made her way across the wall, but her health was so low, she couldn't go any further. She saw this as the end, so decided to give up, the others had died in vain, because nobody would have survived that day. Then she heard a door swing open and gunshots, then she felt strong hands grab her arms and pull her across the floor, but Zoey couldn't keep her eyes open and fell into darkness...


	5. Chapter 5 Hello Again!

Chapter 5- hello again!

Zoey woke up to the pain of being healed, she hated people doing it because she didn't like to be touched, and she also didn't like being dependant on others. The definition of her sight increased the longer her eyes were open, and she realised she was in a room, the walls were covered in writing and on a table were medkits, guns, ammunition, bombs and pain pills. Laid across the floor was her pink and white track-jacket, which was covered in blood and dirt, she felt her white t-shirt folded half-way up her rib cage, and someone was wrapping up her waist with a bandage. She heard gentle mumbles from others and one was walking, then cocking their gun. Zoey turned to see what was going on and saw the man in the white suit pointing his shotgun at her.  
"Nick, what the hell you doin'?" An overweight black man asked, resting his gloved hand on nick's shoulder.  
"She could be infected!" Nick moaned, giving glaring at Zoey. She coughed as she tried to speak, and she still couldn't breathe.  
"I'm... Immune..." She replied weakly, then she let her head fall back to the floor, unable to use any energy to do anything.  
"Sweetie, stay with me..." Said a kind voice right next to Zoey... But she couldn't help it, her body was shutting down...  
A few hours later, she woke up with a start to gunshots from the other side of the room, the overweight man was shooting at some zombies trying to get through the safe-house door. Zoey slowly sat up, wincing at the pain, and looked around to see a face smiling at her. It was a dark-skinned woman wearing a pink top with a depeche mode logo on it, blue jeans and brown, knee-high boots.  
"How you feelin'?" The woman asked, going through some supplies. Zoey rubbed her eyes and sighed.  
"What happened?" She asked. "How did I get here?".  
"We found you passed out next to the safe-house with a tank attacking you, we killed it and brought you in!" The woman replied." And by the way; I'm Rochelle, that's Nick in the white suit, the black guy is Coach and the young man is Ellis."  
Zoey looked at Ellis for a while, noticing he hadn't spoken at all and was blushing. Then Nick began to speak, "we need to go out there to get supplies, but we aren't carrying dead-weight..." He said, aiming his insult at Zoey.  
"But we can't just leave her here! Someone should stay with her!" Rochelle argued. Nick groaned and took charge.  
"I really couldn't give a shit! Let's go." He said, kicking the door open and began shooting zombies. The others followed him without question. The door shut violently and Zoey was left in the room all alone. A loud cry was heard from outside and something landed against the door with a lot of force, then a southern cry was heard.  
"Oh gosh... Nick, you shot me... This hurts." Then the door was forced open and Ellis fell in clutching his chest, but blood was pouring through his hand and staining his pale-yellow shirt. Ellis fell on his back, and wailing in pain, so Zoey crawled over to him with a medkit. Taking an anaesthetic needle from the red bag, she pulled his bloodied shirt up and gently piercing the skin just above his bullet wound, then she injected the serum into Ellis' bloodstream. Soon that area was completely numb and Zoey took a pair of pliers from the medkit and used them to pull out the bullet from his pectoral, then took some stitching and began to pull the skin back together. When she was done she placed a white dressing on the wound to prevent infection. Zoey pulled herself back to the wall as the door shut again.  
"Ellis, you stay with her until we come back, happy now Rochelle?" Nick shouted from outside. Ellis took notice and rubbed the back of his neck.  
"Oh... Okay then!" Ellis smiled,"thanks, by the way!". Zoey said nothing at all, and Ellis could see that something was eating away at her, something dark and mysterious. No words were said for a while until Zoey cleared her throat nervously and spoke.  
"So... Ellis... How did you meet the others?" She asked, trying to stand up, but failing. Ellis came to her rescue and helped her back where she was comfortable.  
"Careful now, miss. I met them at the top of a burning hotel trying to get CEDA to pick us up. But of course, we missed it." Ellis replied, biting his bottom-lip to show he felt very awkward having the conversation. Zoey studied Ellis' face, he had a few grazes and cuts on his face and had blue eyes and brown hair. There was something about him that made her feel free, even though she barely knew him. She turned in embarrassment after Ellis caught her staring at him.  
"So, miss, what happened to the people you were with?" Ellis asked, completely unaware of his mistake. Zoey lost all form of happiness in her being, she remembered what happened. Tears began to run down her face and she turned away, not wanting to cry in front of anyone. Ellis immediately noticed and went over, sat down next to her and hugged her.  
"They...died..." Zoey cried, burying her face into Ellis' chest. "When you crossed the bridge, one was killed by... a hunter, then the other... blew himself and a horde of zombies up with a pipe bomb!" Ellis didn't know how to react, so he tried to console her by hugging her and acting as her rock. A while later, Zoey had fallen asleep on him, Ellis couldn't move and his wound hurt, so he decided to fall asleep with her in his arms...


	6. Chapter 6 Unlikely Friendships

**Chapter 6- unlikely friendships**

Ellis woke up to find darkness in the safe-house other than a lamp in the corner of the room, and the others were back from their venture, asleep. The loud snoring from coach and Nick swearing in his sleep echoed through the atmosphere, So Ellis decided to wait until morning.  
Hours of waiting in the cold safe-house, Ellis had been waiting and keeping Zoey close to him, he knew what she had been through, but obviously not as bad. Keith, his best friend had been bitten and turned, so Ellis had to kill him. This memory haunted him ever since. Then he talked about him all the time, just to bring back good memories and pretend he is still alive. Everyone was still a mystery to everyone, nobody wanted to become attached to each other, what with the zombie apocalypse. A grunt came from Nick, who was waking up. The suited man sat up and nudged Coach, who was sleeping on the floor next to him. Coach then stretched and stood up to look out of the door window. Clawed-hands were desperately scratching the air inside the safe-house.  
_"These sons of bitches just don't give up..."_ Coach mumbled, turning away from the door and to the food supply._ "I'm starved, so who's hungry?"_ Rochelle sat up almost immediately, and yawned.  
_"I'm starved, what have we got?"_ Rochelle replied and Coach searched through the boxes and took out a box.  
_"Just cereal I'm afraid, ever heard of cheeseburgers?"_ Then Rochelle turned to Ellis, who had Zoey still asleep on him.  
_"Looks like Ellis got a girlfriend..."_ She taunted him lightly, taking a handful of cereal and eating it. Ellis shook his head quickly.  
_"The girl lost her gang a while ago. Y'all remember the people on the bridge?"_ Ellis defended himself to avoid any possible accusations from the others. Zoey still lay, clinging to Ellis and breathing very lightly, Ellis' own breathing, natural scent and body-heat calming her.  
_"We heard there's a safe-house down south of here. Its got better supplies and running water."_ Nick stated, checking his gun to make sure it worked. _"We gotta move out now! CEDA won't wait forever..."_ Coach chipped in, then Zoey began mumbling very worryingly in her sleep. Ellis gently shook her to wake her up. _"Zoey, we need to go..."_ He whispered into her ear. Zoey stirred and slowly opened her dark green eyes. She realised she was holding on to Ellis, so she let go quickly and sat up, her cheeks reddened out of embarrassment... She tried to stand up, managing to do so, but struggling to walk very well. _"Oh christ! You're gonna get us killed, there's no way your coming with us!"_ Nick spat, causing Zoey to look down to the floor and back away, feeling useless. Ellis rushed to her side, lifted her arm over his shoulder and picked her up. _"Leave her alone Nick, y'all don't have any idea what she's been through!"_ Ellis argued in Zoey's defence, then carried her to the car and gently placed her in the back-seat of the car. Coach rested himself in the driver's seat and revved up the engine. Dark grey smoke shot out of the exhaust pipe and seemed to disappear into the air, then the noise of the car grew louder which caught the attention of near-by infected. Rochelle took out her axe and smirked. _"Axe me a question! I dare you!"_ She giggled, then sunk the sharp object into a zombie's skull, blood splattering everywhere and causing the zombie to twitch then fall the floor dead. Nick took out a silenced machine gun and shot at the infected running to the car, then jumped into the front-passenger-seat of the Jimmy Gibbs jr. _"Aww... C'mon Nick, you know I want to sit there!"_ Ellis moaned, but Nick just looked back carelessly and scoffed. _"You can sit in the back with your girlfriend..."_ Nick replied, teasing Ellis. Zoey took no notice of this as she was staring out of the window, able to see the bridge in the distance, where Bill and Louis' bodies were at that exact moment in time. This thought caused tears to spill down her dirty face. Rochelle saw this and nudged Ellis. _"Do you know what's wrong with her?"_ She whispered to him, pointing to the crying girl. Ellis turned to Rochelle and whispered back. _"Her friends were killed yesterday..."_ He said, trying to make sure Zoey couldn't hear. Rochelle made a sympathetic noise and pushed Ellis into the car. Coach put his foot to the accelerator and pressed it with force, Nick with a map next to him. _"Take this right. No, left! Then continue forwards... Doesn't this piece of shit have satellite navigation?"_ Nick protested, then Coach stopped the car. _"White suit criminal say what?!"_ Coach shouted, turning to Nick with a death glare. Nick was confused for a moment, then realised. _"Hey, sorry man. Take a left at the road there."_ Nick replied sheepishly. Coach continued the journey and for a while, nobody spoke, very content in this situation. Soon Coach stopped the car to a halt. _"We're here." Coach said in a gentle but deep voice, already getting out of the car._


	7. Chapter 7 Feelings

Chapter 7- Feelings

Ellis carried the still-weak Zoey into the new safe-house and sat her down onto the cold floor. Nick walked in with his cocky-swagger, without a care in the world, then sat himself down onto a grey, tattered sofa.  
_"Hey, there's a kitchen in here! One of you ladies go make me a sandwich..."_ Nick said, rather proud of his sexist joke. Rochelle walked over to the kitchen and turned to Nick.  
_"Sure thing, sweetie..."_ She said, smiling. Coach walked out of one of the many rooms.  
_"We got a bathroom with running water, 4 bedrooms and this room. I think this is the best safe-house yet!"_ He chuckled, then sat down next to nick. Rochelle came back with a sandwich for Nick a few minutes later, and as Nick took a bite, he groaned in pain and ran to find water. Coach was startled by this and looked at Rochelle.  
_"What did you do to his sandwich?"_  
Rochelle held up a black bottle with a red label around it.  
_"Hot sauce, that'll teach the bastard to make sexist jokes."_ Rochelle smirked, the picked up the plate. Nick came back to the room, as angry as the hot sauce.  
_"What the fuck did you do to that sandwich?!"_ Nick shouted at her, but Rochelle laughed and held up the bottle. Nick looked at it, then his face rested.  
_"Remind me never to ask you to make food ever again!"_ Nick chuckled, then walked to a door and opened it. "I'm going to bed, so don't wake me up!"  
_"Goodnight, sweetie, don't let the infected bite!"_ Rochelle smiled, Coach gave Nick a nod to show he understood. Nick walked into the darkness of the room and a sneeze was heard, then coughing.  
_"Oh god, it smells of death in here!"_ Nick shouted, Rochelle laughed and continued going through the boxes of stuff, and brought out ad glass jar full of coffee beans.  
_"Oh my gosh, we have Coffee!"_ Rochelle shrieked with joy, then smiled to Coach as he walked to bed.  
_"I guess it's time for me to go to bed now, I'm exhausted..."_ Rochelle put down the coffee-jar and walked to a door covered in dents, blood, and scratch-marks.  
_"Goodnight you two!"_ Rochelle said to the last people in the room, then disappeared beyond the door. Zoey tried to stand up, it was painful but she was able to stand up, she tried to walk but it turned into a limp. She stumbled, causing Ellis to rush to her side, and hold her up.  
_"I don't need help!"_ Zoey muttered through gritted teeth to stop her crying out in pain. She gripped on to his shirt, even though she didn't want help. Then a sound was heard from outside, a high-pitched wailing was getting louder and closer.  
_"Witch!"_ Ellis muttered, before turning out the light. Ellis and Zoey waited in the darkness, until the crying died down.  
_"That was close..."_ Ellis breathed heavily, then turned to see Zoey staring into his eyes then she closed her eyes and brought her face closer to his until she could feel his body-heat and his natural scent. Time seemed to have slowed down and the zombie apocalypse lost all significance, then without warning she hurriedly limped away, leaving Ellis dumbstruck in the darkness. Zoey made her way to the closest room and fell into it, pulled herself against the wall. She couldn't have feelings for Ellis, as every single person she loved were dead and that was killing her. She couldn't bare to have that feeling ever again, so she couldn't love anyone ever again.


	8. Chapter 8 Can't Stay

Chapter 8- Can't Stay

The sun's rays forced through the cracks in the stone-cold walls. Zoey lifted her head off the dusty floor and shook the ash out of her hair, then her eye-sight adjusted, and she realised the night before she went into the bathroom and must have fallen asleep. Her body ached from the uncomfortable sleep, so she shakily stood up, resting her back on the wall for support. There was no noise in the safe-house, so Zoey limped to the living area. she took a red med-kit, an adrenaline-shot, an AK47 and a small dagger from the table. She turned 90 degrees to the safe-house door, then turned back to take 2 pistols. Zoey took off her pink track-jacket and threw it onto the sofa, which was facing the opposite direction of the safe-house door. The door creaked as she forced it open, then made a loud slam when it shut itself. Zoey was outside, the wind almost knocking her off balance. The outside world was covered in white fog, which made everything disappear and only a few infected were visible. The longer she walked, the less pain she felt, so her pace became quicker and more normal. There was also a powerful wind, which was almost knocking her off balance. Taking a pistol in each hand, she shot at the infected she could see, and soon more came along craving human flesh. Taking one bullet to the head each, the zombies fell to the floor. Dead. As she continued her journey, the safe-house disappeared and she was surrounded by the white fog. She reached a wire-fencing, placed her left foot half-way through the fencing and used her hands to pull herself up. She managed to reach the top of the fence, until she grabbed onto something really sharp which made her lose balance as she let go and fell over the other side. She fell on her back and looked up to see barbed-wire lined across the fencing. Taking a roll of bandage in her hand, she wrapped the bleeding slash in her other hand with the soft, white fabric. She began her journey again, almost wishing she was wearing her track-jacket, but it was too late to get it. She ran into a forest, dried leaves were crunching under her feet and she heard faint shouts calling her name. This was almost killing her to leave, but she had to keep running, before she would go back to them...  
Ellis, Rochelle and Coach were outside calling out for Zoey, but it was hopeless.  
_"We gotta go out for her, y'all. She'll be killed!"_ Ellis kept panicking, while Coach shot at the infected coming their way.  
_"Sweetie, there's nothing we can do. She's left, we can't risk our own lives for her."_ Rochelle argued, then made her way back into the safe-house. Coach put his hand on Ellis' shoulder.  
_"The girl chose to leave, she obviously knows what she's doing."_ Coach said kindly, then led him back into the safe-house. Inside, Rochelle was looking through the supplies.  
_"She took 2 pistols, a med-kit, adrenaline-shot and a rifle. Seems like the girl is good to go..."_ Rochelle sounded a little hostile when she made the remark, this led Ellis to believe maybe Rochelle was jealous or didn't particularly like Zoey. Soon Nick was awake and took control of the situation.  
_"Come on guys, I heard there's some sort of CEDA pickup tonight, it's at some place called whispering oaks."_ Nick projected his voice so everyone could hear, Coach turned his head.  
_"Whisperin' oaks? That sounds familiar..."_ He said, then took out a map.  
_"Dibs on drivin'!"_ Ellis said quickly, secretly hoping to find Zoey and stop for her.  
_"By the way nick, Zoey left..."_ Coach said solemnly, then nick's face softened a little.  
_"Shame, but hell; we might find her along the way. I suggest we move out now!"_ Nick ordered, then they took everything they needed; ammo, med-kits, pills, food and water. They quickly made their way from the safe-house to the Jimmy Gibbs jr car, then drove off to their next adventure...


	9. Chapter 9 Dreaming

Chapter 9- Dreaming

**Less than a week into the infection and she was all alone. The atmosphere had changed and every day seemed to be in darkness, almost engulfing any light left in the world. Carrying a light pistol in her hand, Zoey sneaked around any possible zombies, trying not to be heard. The guilt she felt from losing her mother and father was stopping her will for life, she wanted to be dead with them. She was so lost in her thoughts that she first didn't hear the shouting from the other end of the street, then she came back to reality and sprinted across the road. On the floor was a dark-skinned man on the floor with zombies surrounding him.**  
**_"Help me! For the love of god help me!"_**** The man cried, so Zoey took out her pistol and took 12 nervous shots at the zombies. One by one they fell to the ground and within seconds they were all dead. Zoey held out her hand and lifted him off the gravel, then the man continued walking, but used his hand as a gesture that she should follow him.**  
**_"Louis, and you?"_**** The man smiled falsely, turning back to the scared girl.**  
**_"Zoey."_**** She said quietly, then they continued down the road until they stopped at a lit-up building with panicking voices heard inside. **  
**_"It's a safehouse!"_**** Louis exclaimed, then opened the door to see a large group of people, either arguing or crying. A few depressed faces turned to look at the new arrivals, and aimed the guns at them.**  
**_"We're not infected, don't shoot!"_**** Louis shouted to the other survivors, then a growling shout was heard from the other side of the room and all eyes averted to the other side of the room, where a man seemed to be having a seizure, his skin seemed almost colourless, then he began choking and threw up blood. Everyone gasped in horror as the man groaned and lunged at the person closest to him, he pulled a woman towards him and sunk his teeth into her shoulder. The woman let out a pained cry and it was soon obvious the man was infected. Louis quickly took his gun and shot the zombie right between the eyes, causing him to flop to the floor, lifeless. ****_"The flu's infected the room!"_**** Zoey shouted, remembering the zombie-movie she had watched the night before, then the people let out hysteric shouts and made their way to the safehouse door. Soon the safehouse was empty, apart from the corpse of the zombie and the woman who was crying and holding her bleeding shoulder. Zoey and Louis took a shortcut to avoid the main road, into a dark alleyway, the smell was putrid and was soon realised to be the stench of rotting corpses and vomit. ****_"How you holdin' up, girl?"_**** Louis asked Zoey, who shakily nodded, then they stopped at 3 ways to go. Louis turned to the left alleyway, which had a few zombies clawing at the wooden-fence, their fingers bleeding and their nails had split. Zoey looked towards the right alleyway which contained piles of corpses, the smell infected the air and spread around the atmosphere. The alleyway ahead of them didn't seem to have any danger to it so they continued onwards, then they heard a low shout. ****_"That's right you God damn vampires, Suck on these bullets!"_****_"Another survivor!"_**** Louis exclaimed, then they rushed towards the noise to find a lone man fighting off a horde of infected with an AK-47.**

Zoey woke with a start to find herself high up a tree, leaning her back against a large branch. This memory was causing her so much heartbreak, but she couldn't stay awake and more painful memories came back...


	10. Chapter 10 Altogether

Chapter 10- Altogether

**Within minutes every last zombie in the alleyway had been killed, Louis and Zoey stared at the man in awe. The man had tattoos running from his neck to his wrists and wore a stained white shirt, a black leather vest and dark grey jeans. The man turned to see the two survivors watching him, so he aimed his gun at them both. Then a sharp click sounded from his AK-47 to show he had run out of bullets.**  
**_"Cheap piece if shit!"_**** He mumbled under his breath, then took a pistol from his pocket and aimed it at them. Louis laughed and held out his hand.**  
**_"I'm Louis, and that's... Chloe"_**** Louis smiled, causing Zoey to sigh.**  
**_"My name is Zoey."_**** She said to both of them. Francis shook Louis' hand and smiled.**  
**_"The name's Francis, I'm a cop."_**** He said happily. ****_"I suggest we get outta this shit-hole, it stinks!"_**** Then they continued onwards past the seemingly never-ending alleyway until they reached a light at the end of the alleyway.**  
**_"Heaven! I'm rid of this god-forsaken apocalypse!"_**** Louis yelled to the heavens, causing Francis to chuckle a little. It turned out to be a safehouse ahead, and it was empty. compared to the alleyway; the street practically smelled like flowers dipped in chocolate even though there were bodies and abandoned cars covering the road separating them From the safehouse.**  
**_"Should we try the door?"_**** Francis questioned what to do, Louis nodded hesitantly and they began to move forward. The building seemed to be only two-storey and the boards on the windows were covered in blood and scratch-marks; some nails were embedded in the wood. This was something Zoey found cringe-worthy; splitting your nail or accidentally ripping it off, just the thought of it sent shivers through her body. Francis used his foot in an attempt to kick it open, but it didn't work.**  
**_"Try pulling it, Einstein..."_**** Zoey said sarcastically, she didn't mean to sound mean or even make him feel stupid; it was almost as if she had turned hostile towards everyone due to how much she lost in the zombie apocalypse. Francis took her advice and it slid open without much effort.**  
**_"Thanks... I hate doors."_**** Francis mumbled. Just then masses of zombies piled through the door at once, causing the survivors to back-up for space. They took out their weapons and began shooting at the once-human infected. Blood, guts and body-parts flew through the air as the force of their bullets killed the zombies. Francis seemed to be loving it and was yelling obscenities at the infected.**  
**_"Fuck yeah you dirty vampires, hungry for bullets?"_**** Francis shouted, as more infected piled around them. Soon all the infected were dead, and the survivors were tired.**  
**_"I hate zombies, but I love the apocalypse!"_**** Francis mumbled, out of breath. Then he continued onwards to the building and carefully walked in, making sure there were no zombies there. Louis and Zoey followed close behind him, as Zoey was becoming lost in her thoughts. She thought about the times she had spent with her father, the times she argued with her mother and the time she watched dawn of the dead with her best friend, and her friend never wanted to see a horror movie again. Then something thin wrapped around her arms and torso, she looked down to see it was a grey, extremely-long tongue. The fear prevented her from screaming out to the others, she could only whisper "help" as she was being dragged back through the alleyway, pulled through the corpses that lay on the ground. She was pulled upwards and clawed-hands began clawing at her back. The pain was unbearable and she could feel blood running down her back and staining her shirt. Then the thing stopped with a loud cough and smoke surrounded Zoey as she got up, causing her to cough. She got a good look at this creature to see it had pale-grey skin and large tumours on it's face and neck, it was the most hideous thing she had ever seen. Then something jumped from the fence to the ground, causing her to aim her gun at it.**  
**_"Kid, we ain't got time for this, move!"_**** The voice said loudly, and Zoey was too scared to do otherwise and followed him back to the street. They made their way to the safehouse, where Louis and Francis sat there raising their eyebrows at the old man standing in front of them. Zoey cleared her throat nervously,**  
**_"Guys, this is Bill..."_**


	11. Chapter 11 Their best memory

Chapter 11- Their best memory

**A week after they had all met, they were walking between two tall buildings, searching for an evacuation-point. Bodies were all over the floor and gave off a stench that was choking the survivors.**  
**_"Hold up!"_**** Bill said, holding up his hand to tell them, then knelt down and wiped some sort of green discharge from the corpses.****_ "I ain't ever seen anything like this before..."_**** He began rubbing it between his thumb and index-finger.**  
**_"Jesus, don't let that stop you from smearing all over yourself."_**** Francis sneered at Bill, who walked over to him.**  
**_"They're changing!"_**** Bill said bluntly, as he wiped the bile onto Francis' vest.**  
**_"God dammit Bill! Eurgh it stinks!"_**** Francis moaned, then began trying to wipe it off with his hand. Louis giggled until a depressing cry was heard from a door close-by, causing everyone to turn to it in silence.**  
**_"Someone's still alive!"_**** Zoey stated, then she and Bill crouched down and opened the door. **  
**_"Over there!"_**** Bill whispered, Zoey switched on the light attached to her pistol as they made their way across the dark room.**  
**_"Hello? Hello?"_****. Zoey spoke into the darkness, the crying got louder and seemed to emit a sad humming noise. **  
**_"It's okay...we're gonna..."_**** Zoey began as lightning from outside struck and lit up the room for a split-second. The woman was sitting cross-legged on the floor and rocking herself back and forth. She had a very skeletal-frame and she was extremely pale with platinum-blonde hair which seemed to appear spiky. **  
**_"Lights off!"_**** Bill hissed, grabbing Zoey's gun as they looked at the crying woman.**  
**Louis and Francis were outside, making sure there were no zombies coming their way. Growling and spluttering was heard as a few infected ran towards them. Francis was taking shots at them as Louis failed to reload his.**  
**_"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"_**** Louis cried as he ran through the door to Bill and Zoey.**  
**_"They're coming!"_**** He shouted, alerting the crying woman and she hissed like a cat and screamed. **  
**_"Run like hell!"_**** Zoey screamed to him as they all piled out of the room and shut the door, Louis tried to use his body-weight to block the door but the woman managed to dent the door until she had smashed her hand through it, revealing a claw-like hand covered in blood. Louis began shooting at the woman while the others shot and the horde coming towards them.**  
**_"How do you like that?!"_**** Louis cried at the woman, as he shot her, dead. **  
**_"Stick together!"_**** Francis shouted. Then a rasping screech was heard, the same type of infected that got Zoey before was on a railing above them, and shot out his extended, grey tongue towards the Vietnam veteran. It twisted around Bill's body and was hanging him in mid-air.**  
**_"Hold on."_**** Francis shouted, then used his shot-gun to kill the infected. Bill fell to the floor and Francis helped him up.**  
**_"Guys..."_**** Zoey said nervously, as more zombies were surrounding them. Francis quickly shot at the infected close to him and looked at Bill.**  
**_"Merry christmas!"_**** He said bluntly, as more infected came along. Zoey took a pipe-bomb from her pocket and threw it.**  
**_"Fire in the hole!"_**** She shouted as it flew through the air, it's bleeping catching the attention of the infected. Everyone ducked as it exploded, and a helicopter was flying over them. Louis began following it, waving both of his arms.**  
**_"Hey! We're over here... We're not infected! Down here."_**** He shouted as the helicopter flew away, leaving Louis alone in the street. Then a strange infected pounced on him and began clawing at his torso, Zoey quickly ran over and pushed the thing off of him, using her dual-wield pistols to shoot at it. The thing was just in front of a car when Louis aimed a pistol at it's head and shot, the thing fell onto the car, setting-off the siren.**  
**_"Oh this is gonna get bad..."_**** Bill groaned as the shadow of a horde emitted off the buildings and hundreds of zombies came towards them. Then a giant infected came along, knocking a car out of the way and just missing Zoey.**  
**_"Run or shoot? Run or shoot?!"_**** Louis panicked, looking towards Bill.**  
**_"Both!"_**** Bill shouted, then they ran towards an alley, with the infected hot on their heels. Louis saw a metal ladder on a building and pointed to it.**  
**_"Get to the roof!"_**** He shouted, then Francis stopped and continued shooting.**  
**_"Go, go, go!"_**** He yelled to them as he took out more zombies. Zoey quickly jumped onto the ladder and climbed up, as Bill and Francis continued to shoot. **  
**_"Come on, come on!"_**** He mumbled, waiting for the tank to arrive, then it raised its giant fists and went to smash Francis, as Bill opened fire at it, causing the tank to swing towards him and miss, then was sent through a brick wall. the tank became enraged at this and ripped slab of concrete from the floor and threw it towards Francis and Louis, who were climbing up the fire-escape.**  
**_"Heads up!"_**** Louis called, as the concrete almost hit them. Bill reached for the ladder, but was stopped by the load of zombies. Zoey began shooting at them from the top of the railing.**  
**_"Go! I'll hold them off!"_**** She was using her dual-wield pistols to protect Bill as he climbed up the fire-escape. The tank tried to climb up, but the fire-escape couldn't hold its weight and began to collapse and Bill managed to climb up just as the tank got higher. Zoey was still shooting at the tank, but it got higher and fell further, knocking a gun out of her hand and it fell to the bottom. The fire-escape gave way just as Zoey tried to jump towards the building.**  
**_"Francis!"_**** She shouted in a petrified voice, then Francis managed to catch her by the arm just in tim and pull her up. The tank had been crushed by the fire-escape and they were all safe on top of the building. **  
**_"We made it! I can't believe we made it!"_**** Louis said excitedly, then Bill ruined the fun.**  
**_"Son, we just crossed the street."_**** Bill said, then lit up a cigarette.****_"Let's not throw a party 'til we're outta the city!"_****. Everyone sighed as they saw mercy hospital, and the thousands of zombies they had to kill to get there.**  
Zoey woke again, but this time she had a clear thought in her mind; she shouldn't have left them. She knew that teamwork was a key thing needed to survive a zombie apocalypse, this was something all the zombies movies taught her. She jumped down from the tree and ran back the way she came, making her way UNDER the fence, rather than over it so she didn't make the same mistake, then she ran towards the red door marked "exit". She unbolted the door to find nobody was there, they left. She couldn't blame them at all, she shouldn't have ran away. Then some writing on the wall caught her eye:  
_Zoey,_  
_Going to New Orleans to be evacuated, hope you can meet us there..._  
_-Ellis_  
Shit! She forgot to tell them not to be evacuated, they didn't know that they were probably going to be killed. What was she going to do?


	12. Chapter 12 Heading there

chapter 12- Heading there

Zoey's converse almost caused her to slip in the wet mud as she sprinted across the forest. She was all out of ammo, she was tired, and a tank was chasing her. She turned quickly to see the tank's fist slam into her, batting her out of the way. She hit a wire-fence which cut across her left cheekbone. The adrenaline- rush was preventing any pain and the tank was becoming weaker. Zoey quickly climbed over the fence and fell onto the floor. She found herself in a military-base, but there was nobody in site. Everything she could possibly need was there, food, water, ammunition, maps. Zoey took this as a blessing from God as she packed as much stuff as she could into a bag, enough to last 7 people for a month. She practically sang "hallelujah" to the sky when she saw a truck, with the keys still in the ignition. She stuffed her bag into thee front-passenger's seat of the black truck and sat in the driver's seat. She had never driven a car before, so she had no idea what she was doing. It seemed easy enough; Turn the key in the thing, press the pedals on the floor and use the stick from time to time. The car had just been started when an eery cry was heard from the trunk. Zoey automiatically knew it was a witch, so she crept over to the back of the car and quickly pulled the door open, then ran back to the driver's seat. The car was in full-motion and she drove down the bumpy road, the witch becoming more and more agitated by the second. Zoey quickly turned the steering-wheel as far as it could go. the witch flew out of the trunk, landing in an awkward position on the dusty ground, the impact killing her instantly. Zoey looked back with a smirk as she continued her journey to find her friends.

They were on Virgil's Boat, having just left the plantation and managed to dodge that Tank. Nick was severely wounded after being punched in the chest by the bulky infected and most likely broke his ribs. If he wasn't injured it would have been funny as he landed on the boat after the tank punched him into the air. Rochelle was tending to Nick while Coach and Ellis relaxed on the boat after their treacherous journey through the swamps. Virgil wasn't taking any chances if they were infected and was shut off from the, in the control-room where he was steering the boataway from the plantation house, where thousands of zombies and 2 tanks were left behind.  
_"Do you have trouble breathing?"_ Rochelle asked, getting out a medkit.  
_"Not really..."_ Nick replied with a struggling voice, desperately trying to hide his discomfort. _"Hey overalls, get me those pain-pills..."_ Ellis wasn't paying attention to what Nick was saying, he was sitting on the end of the boat, his hand in the water, thinking of Zoey.  
_"what if she's hurt, or dead? What would I do?"_ He kept rambling in his Southern accent. Nick scoffed loudly.  
_"Jesus, if you love her so much why don't you marry her?"_ Nick hissed in a wheezy voice from the pain in his chest. Rochelle grabbed the pain-pills from the box of essentials and gave him two of the dusty-white pain-killers. _"Ah... A little pick-me-up! Thanks Ro."_ Nick said kindly, as the pain-pills were taking effect almost immediately. Ellis didn't know what to say, he couldn't laugh off this claim or argue, because he wanted to marry Zoey so badly it was causing his heart to literally ache everytime he thought about it. The fact that she was alone somewhere in this cruel world made his desperation more severe. What if she was dead? He asked himself that question every minute he was awake, and when he was asleep he would have nightmares about finding her dead, then become infected. It played through his mind ever since she ran away, and whenever they were outside, he was searching for her. Would he ever find the girl of his dreams?


	13. Chapter 13 Unmistakable

Chapter 13- Unmistakable

Zoey was an amateur at driving, she kept forgetting how to use everything. It seemed a blessing the car was still running after what she had put it through. Driving had given her lot of time to think about everything, even remember things from the past. That guy in the white suit, Nick, was a total bastard. He was so sarcastic and cocky, it was a wonder how he managed to keep his friends. Rochelle, the fellow female, almost seemed a bit hostile towards, as if she were angry that she wasn't the only woman survivor, therefore, had less importance or attention. Coach... She hadn't spoken to him much, but somehow she developed an intense respect for him, the way he acted as the leader of the group and his aura was so welcoming and friendly. Then there was Ellis... He was the most remarkable person she had ever met. He was always happy, even if he was hurt or the fact that his whole family was possily dead. The mystery was that his eyes did most of the smiling, his warm blue eyes that seemed so full of life. Then there was his natural warmth, that probably wouldn't be affected by cold weather. She had only been acquainted with him for a few days, but it was as if she knew all about him, even more than the stories and his way of life, it was as if they were in sync together or their minds were connected, and she only just realised it could have been destiny. If there was a God up there, he would have given her a sign that it was meant to be. Meant to be what? Have some kind of relationship in the fucking zombie apocalypse, she lost enough people in her life and if she lost another person in her life it could tip her over the edge. Then realisation hit her hard in the face; it was love. She couldn't explain the feeling, but she just knew that was it. It wasn't some school-girl crush or admiration, it was proper, heart-stopping Love. She didn't realise that she was using a knife to draw on the leather dashboard; she wrote both their initials inside the shape of a heart. This brought her back to when her mother forced her to watch rom-coms, all the clichéd crap seemed to be happening then, right out of a movie. Then later when she walked to her father's apartment they would watch a horror movie or two so Zoey could get rid of the memory of the movies her mother adored. Zoey wasn't really into the thought of soulmates, but somehow she just knew Ellis was the one for her, but did he feel the same? Zoey was so tired that she stopped the car at the side of the road, climbed into the backseat with a pistol at her wave-length in case she needed it. She let her heavy eyes sink into oblivion and let her dreams unveil in her mind. Were they going to be good dreams? Or were they going to be bad dreams?


	14. Chapter 14 From Dreams To Nightmares

Chapter 14- from dreams to nightmares

**Ellis was alone in an empty space, fog blocking his vision and he couldn't even see his hands in front of his face. Then a small, cold hand entwined their fingers with his, gripping together into hold. He turned to see this mystery person, they had dark-brown hair and dazzling green eyes, They wore a pink track-jacket over a white tank-top. The friendly smile revealed this person to be Zoey. Ellis smiled back at her as they walked through the thick mist, not knowing where they were going. Still holding hands, they continued down what seemed to be a slope or hill, not a single zombie in sight. Was this heaven? It certainly seemed like it as he was with the girl of his dreams, away from the apocalypse. But something was wrong, almost out of reality, but it was good enough. He looked at Zoey's face, no wounds or blemishes, just her angelic face filled with colour and life. Then the fog began to fade, slowly revealing the world for what it really was, the grass was almost grey and withered, the ground was dry and cracked with bodies strewn around everywhere. Then a body in a white suit caught his attention, laid across 2 other bodies. One wore a purple and yellow shirt with beige slacks and the other wore a pink shirt with brown boots over blue jeans. His team-mates Nick, Coach and Rochelle were dead, looking bloodied and broken. Tears stung Ellis' eyes as he tried to make sense of everything, his friends were dead. He turned to Zoey to see she had lost all colour, her skin turned pale and her face became distorted. Wounds began forming all over her face, blood began staining her clothes as she growled lightly then swung her fist at him. The impact knocked him off his feet and onto the cold floor, then he noticed a silver pistol laying on the floor next to him. He picked up the metallic object and aimed it towards the infected Zoey, threatening to shoot.**  
**_"Zoey, stay back or I'll shoot!"_**** Ellis stuttered, backing away as she got closer. something hard hit the back of his legs and he fell back, reaching out for anything to catch him. He waited for the impact of the ground but it never came, but Zoey's zombie form became smaller and smaller and he continued falling through the air. Then gravity forced him down, his spine cracked as he hit the floor, now unable to move as he faded out into the darkness surrounding him...**  
Ellis woke with a start to find himself in a safehouse, drenched in sweat. His eyes darted to the other side of the room, where Rochelle and Nick were sleeping, content in their oblivion. Where was Coach? Ellis slowly sat up, his body felt stiff after sleeping on the cold floor. The dream kept running through his mind as he walked around the two-storey safehouse in search of his older friend. Coach was found sitting by the table of guns, reloading his SPAS-12.  
_"Young 'un? What's wrong Ellis?"_ Coach asked in his naturally friendly but still badass voice. Ellis smiled weakly and stepped forward.  
_"What are you doing?"_ Ellis asked, his southern accent echoing around the concrete walls. Coach gave his signature look where he would raise one eyebrow and tilt his head slightly.  
_"There's a radio just over there, I bet it's our ticket outta here!"_ Coach stood and lightly touched the bars on the door with his fingertips, then turned back to Ellis. _"I just wanna get away from all this! And I'll be damned if I don't get on that fuckin' rescue..."_ Ellis thought for a moment, then slid down the metal ladder where the other two survivors were sleeping.  
_"C'mon y'all, we gotta keep movin'!"_ Ellis shook the two awake.  
_"God dammit Ellis, can't you be annoying somewhere else?"_ Nick moaned, grumpy from waking up. Rochelle didn't speak, just glared at Ellis with tired eyes, then stood up slowly. Ellis remembered his strange dream, and wondered if the others had dreams while they were asleep.


	15. Chapter 15 Running out of time

Chapter 15- Running out of time

The car began slowing down as Zoey's car began running out of gas, stopping just a few feet away from the New Orleans welcome-sign. Zoey kicked the door open and pulled the large, black bag onto her back, and continued down the warm hill, the heavy bag slowing her down. Where were the zombies? Not even a witch staggering across the road crying? She suspiciously made her way across a road which was under a bridge. Then she noticed the safe-house door just opposite from where she was standing. She dragged herself across the cracked pavement to the door, to find it was barricaded shut. With a quick push, it was open, and nobody was in sight. blue, bold handwriting addressed to her was on the wall.  
Zoey,  
We've found a radio telling us to take a helicopter at the end of the bridge, please be there. If you're not, I will search the world for you when the helicopter comes.  
Ellis.  
The message almost stung her eyes with tears, not because of what he wrote, but the fact he was still alive.  
_"Shit!"_ Zoey cried as she heard the bridge outside make a crashing noise, that would attract so many zombies. Thinking quickly, she ran towards the opposite direction in search of something she could do. So far she couldn't see a thing to use in order to save them. She was running out of time fast.  
The sun was for once shining upon the broken earth, causing a relaxing heat in the air. Ellis, Nick, Coach and Rochelle were running through the destroyed bridge, attacking zombies as they continued onwards. Ellis held a guitar in his hands and was breaking skulls with it, clearing a path to their next destination.  
_"I'm crackin' heads with this thing!"_ Ellis smiled to himself, swinging the sharp object into the infected beings. Many cars were abandoned in the road as they carefully made their way over the bridge which had a ferocious sea lurking beneath. Then a loud grunting noise came from ahead of them, and a car flew through the air. A tank. Ellis led the others through a set of wooden scaffolding at the side in order to dodge the tank, still shooting at the beast. It's body of steel seemed to take no damage from the bullets being lodged in its skin. All managed to escape, until the tank swiftly dragged his fist through the air, forcing Coach into a car. Coach landed on the ground head-first, leaving a large cut across his wrinkled forehead. The bullets still sprayed the tank, until it stopped in its tracks and fell off the bridge to the ocean below. The amount of cars on the bridge almost turned it into a maze, as the tired survivors ran to the other end in hope of survival. No zombies. No guns. No... Zoey. Ellis' eyes grew wide as the realisation struck him in the heart. There was no possible hope seeing her again, so what was there to live for now? The team managed to get to the end, until they realised they were one man short, more like one WOMAN short. Rochelle was nowhere to be seen, until Nick spotted her back on the bridge hanging from the edge. The men dragged themselves through the car wreckage and zombies to get to the screaming woman, who was hanging on by one hand now. They finally managed to reach Rochelle as her fingers lost their grip on the bridge, a tear fell down her face as her body dropped into the sea screaming, not to be seen again. Coach sighed and blinked away the tears, while Ellis and Nick allowed a single tear to fall down their dirty cheeks. Rochelle must have fallen at least 30 feet into the water, so there was no hope for her then. Nick took charge and dragged the remainder of their group to the exit, no helicopter was in sight. Shit.


	16. Chapter 16 Escape?

Chapter 16- Escape?

Zoey searched the bright blue sky for any helicopters. None. Why was the government fucking with any survivors left? Everything she had been through was just empty promises from them. She travelled to many places for permanent safety, but of course, she was still killing zombies with no hope of rescue. How she hated CEDA, they were just bullshitters. She heard a tank from the bridge and began shaking. The thought of them dying was a slap in the face. This was no movie, there was no coincidental helicopters falling out of the sky, nor were there the chances of survival. Anyone could die at any time, in the blink of an eye. Then a slight change of wind began, blowing Zoey's brown hair in every direction. She took out the pale-green hair band and stuffed it in her pocket. In the sky was a black shape flying towards the bridge, a helicopter. Zoey called out to it, but her voice became hoarse from the many months of the zombie apocalypse. Zoey forced her cold hands into the black sack, pulling out as many objects as it took to find something. Something that could make noise or be seen. Then her frail hands felt something she could use. She quickly pulled out the object, a flare-gun, which she pointed to the sky and shot. The red light shot into the air, not particularly visible due to the time of day and the sun being in the way, but the helicopter slowly turned around and began lowering towards her. The sleek helicopter was actually a pale grey compared to what it looked like in the sky. She forced open the helicopter-door and slid into passenger-side in the front and sat down, then exhaled loudly, the pain in her feet was gone. The helicopter took off the ground and was now airborne. The leather seats massaged her back and she felt herself becoming less tense.  
_"Thank you, sir. My friends are just over the bridge..."_Zoey spoke politely, then realized this man was on edge, and seemed really distant. The helicopter propelled into the sky, towards the bridge. Then the pilot's skin began to turn pale right before her eyes and he stopped, almost as if someone had taken a remote control and paused him. Zoey had only been in the same helicopter as him for a few minutes, the change was so quick! He then snapped into action and began to claw at her, blood dripping from his mouth as he continued to attack the girl. Zoey pushed open her door and then pulled the pilot out of the helicopter, feeling very guilty. Zoey closed the door, seeing the poor guy fall through the air and hit the floor violently and just realized the helicopter was descending fast. She also realized that she had to drive it.

_"Poor Rochelle..."_ Ellis spoke solemnly, keeping his gun steady. _"Why didn't we all stick together?" _  
_"Listen, boy. We couldn't have stopped that from happening, but I know she would want us to carry on her memory by surviving this, so let's remember her in the best way. By kickin' some zombie-ass!"_ Coach exclaimed, his words humbling the other two. More zombies came along, only to be shot down in an instant. A roar was sounded from the bridge, and a tank emerged from the cars, batting a blue one towards them. Nick pulled Coach out of the way, but Ellis was crushed, and unable to get back up. Coach shot at the tank's shriveled face and grabbed its attention, leading it away from Ellis, who was being picked up by Nick.  
_"Come on, get up!"_ Nick yelled at Ellis, and half to himself for motivation to hurry up. Ellis shakily stood up, and limped towards the tank, which was dangerously close to Coach. With his AK-47 in hand, he shot at the beast with as many bullets as he had. The tank slumped to the floor in defeat, now dead, just as a helicopter awkwardly flew close. The back of the helicopter fell open, and the 3 survivors climbed in and rested on the metal walls. The helicopter took off again, blowing away many zombies with the propellers as the entire bridge blew up and collapsed, then the wall between the cock-pit and the survivors flew open, revealing who was driving.  
_"Zoey?"_ The survivors exclaimed in unison, all except Ellis, who was groaning from the pain. His bones were aching all over and his chest felt deflated. Then his blurred gaze turned to the driver, who he couldn't recognize as he passed out.  
_"Does anyone know how to drive a helicopter?"_ Zoey asked, fiddling with the buttons and sticks.  
_"I can, move over."_ Nick pulled Zoey out of the seat, the helicopter quickly began falling to the ground, until Nick took over and it was flying straight. Zoey grabbed her sack and pulled out a health kit, then moved towards Ellis.  
_"Where's Roch..."_ Zoey began, then realized. _"Oh..."_ Zoey frowned, then pulled out the medical equipment from the red bag. Coach looked towards the big black bag and wiped his forehead, which was covered in blood, sweat, and dirt.  
_"You got any water in you bag o' wonders?"_ He began, feeling parched.  
_"You know it, help yourself."_ Zoey smiled, _"There's also food."_ Coach almost sang in delight. Zoey pulled up Ellis' shirt which revelealed major bruising all over his torso, and prodded at his tender skin for any broken bones. She pulled out bandaging and began wrapping him up in the white cloth. Ellis' eyes were closed so she couldn't tell which emotion he was feeling, she also really wanted to gaze into his blue eyes and become lost in the warmth and kindness they gave off. It had almost become an addiction, to which she was having withdrawal-symptoms from being away for a week.  
_"So where are we headed?"_ Nick asked impatiently, tapping his ringed-fingers on the dashboard.  
_"We're going to an island, somewhere with no zombies, then we can wait until the infection dies down just relaxing on the beach."_ Zoey replied, remembering Bill's plan before he... No! She couldn't bear to remember such a sad thing on a happy occasion. She couldn't look back, only look forward.


	17. Chapter 17- Emergency Exit

Chapter 17- Emergency Exit

Rochelle was in a better place, no more zombies or tanks, or witches; whom she had hated the most. Rochelle was probably better off than any of them, not left for dead anymore, but free. Coach was probably struck the most with this tragedy, because Rochelle reminded him of his Niece, but he had no idea where she was, or if she was alive. Ellis was still unconscious, and oblivious to the fact that Zoey was with them. Zoey was still covering all of his wounds with the white bandages until she had used up the entire bag.  
_"How long until he wakes up?"_ Zoey asked with wide green eyes. Coach turned to her and gave a half-smile.  
_"Should be any time now, all we can do is wait."_ Coach rubbed his head and mopped away the blood and sweat.  
_"I guess, did you ever hear about uninfected islands?"_ Zoey gave a worried face as she asked the question. What if the entire world was infected? Were they doomed to be surrounded by zombies for as long as they would lived? Coach frowned slightly, then moments later, grinned.  
_"There's a secluded Island that used to be a resort, and as far as I know, there's nobody there now as they shut it down soon after the green flu began."_ Zoey felt a twinge of hope for that split-second, they were going to be safe and sound for the first time in months. Zoey didn't have a clue what day it was, but assumed it was somewhere around summer-time.  
_"Does anyone know what day it is?"_ Zoey questioned out of curiosity.  
_"It's the 16th July, my rolex is never wrong."_ Nick replied coldly, he seemed very distant since Rochelle died.  
_"Wow! It's my birthday tomorrow..."_ Zoey smiled to herself. if the infection had broke out, her birthday would have been worse; her mother and father fighting over who was spending the day with her, but it always ended in an argument that lasted the whole day which would make her feel depressed. There would be none of that this year.  
_"How old ya gonna be, girl?"_ Coach asked. Zoey actually had to guess because she had no idea how long she had been fighting in the zombie apocalypse.  
_"I'll be 18 I think..."_ Zoey managed to guestimate. She clutched Ellis' warm hand to support him if he woke up, but it seemed very unlikely he was going to. Both his eyes were swelling, his nose was bleeding and he had cuts and bruises all over his face. Zoey began tracing the outline of the tattoo on Ellis' right arm with her index finger, while watching closely at his face. Was it some sort of symbol? She became mesmerised with The young man laying unconscious before her, she didn't notice Nick scoffing at them. Ellis' eyes began to flutter open, and revealed his blue eyes which lit up his entire face. His vision slowly came into focus and he saw an angel before him, holding his hand and staring at him.  
_"It means I'm a badass zombie-killin' machine!"_ He spoke with a hoarse voice, and everyone to turn to him in shock. Zoey's dark-green eyes met Ellis' now-smiling face, and her face did the same.  
_"Ellis! You're awake, how are you feeling?"_ Zoey said soothingly, as Ellis lifted himself up with his elbows.  
_"Never mind me, darlin'. What are you doin' here?"_ Ellis was very confused.  
_"It's a long story, I'll tell you as soon as we land..."_ Zoey replied. Suddenly, the plane jolted forwards and slowly began its descent to the ground. Coach gripped onto Nick's seat, Zoey and Ellis held onto the safety-bars lining the inside of the helicopter.  
_"What happened, man?"_ Coach yelled to Nick.  
_"Did you not fucking see that?!"_ Nick shouted back. _"A goddamn tank just threw a slab of concrete at us!"_ They were heading to the ground faster and faster now.  
_"Alright people, we gotta jump, or be blown into kingdom come!"_ Coach shouted, then made his way to the passenger-seat and threw the door open. Coach disappeared in a matter of seconds, as did Nick. Ellis and Zoey climbed to the front of the helicopter and grabbed hold of the doors.  
_"Ready?"_ Ellis asked nervously, as Zoey gripped the black bag. They both jumped together, landing on a hard surface. The force almost cracked their bones, and a few minor injuries were caused.  
_"Great, we got no ride, and nowhere to go! Back where we started."_ Nick complained, brushing the dust off his once-white suit. Surrounding them was a secluded grassy area with nobody in sight.  
_"Where's Coach?"_ Nick's eyes grew wide, where did the old man go?


	18. Chapter 18- Our Ticket Outta Here

Chapter 18- Our ticket outta here

The remains of the helicopter was burning behind them, sending black smoke into the air. Coach was still missing, and everyone had feared the worst.  
_"Coach, Coach?"_ Everyone was calling out, hoping for a reply or some sort of sign to prove that he was still there. Then a movement began next to the fire. Coach was alive, and seemed unharmed. The old man sat up groaning, his entire body aching from the amount of pain caused by the fall.  
_"S'alright! I'm fine."_ Coach coughed between words, the smoke in his lungs burning his throat. As soon as he got up the group saw the giant landscape that used to be New York, now it was an undead wasteland. Buildings were on fire, bodies lay in the streets, and hideous zombies staggered across the floor, searching for food.  
_"There's no way I'm going to be their lunch, so I suggest Ellis go first."_ Nick joked, much to Zoey's anger.

_"Shut the fuck up, Colonel Sanders, this is no time to be kidding around. It never has been!"_ Zoey tried her hardest to sound scalding by whispering, in hope of not being heard. Nick frowned and turned back around. Ellis looked along at the bottom of the hill and saw the wire-fencing blocking the city from the grasslands. Then he saw a gap in between, where people had got through in the past. Using his left hand he signalled the others to follow him, gesturing towards the opening in the fence. Using his right hand, he steadied himself in hope of not falling down the steep hill. He slid down and reached the bottom safely. Nick tried to imitate, but slipped and fell, causing fresh grass-stains to cover his white suit. Zoey bit her lip in fear of going down, but Coach held out his gloved hand with a big grin, so Zoey took it and they ran down together, the black bag almost throwing her down the hill. This is when she realised that these people were sort of like her family, they were a team and nobody was left behind. It was more than she could say for Francis, who once left her being chased by a witch just because he got a bloodstain on his vest. Then again, Nick would have done the same for his suit. Coach had become the father of the group, he was the person everyone looked to for support. Bill acted more like a grandfather who was going insane, which was probably happening in reality. And Ellis was like the loving child, full of life, happy, kind and she couldn't really relate to anyone except Ellis, because he was the closest person to her age. He was 5 years older physically, but 5 years younger mentally. Louis was almost as kind, but he was probably in his 30s, and his happiness wasn't very contagious, if anything it made people even more depressed.  
Ellis was happy. Zoey was alive, and with them. He wasn't speaking to her that much because he was scared that she was just a figment of his imagination. He was also happy because he found the way into the city, he loved making contributions. As soon as the group got down there, it was as if all of the infected has disappeared into thin-air. Not a single zombie was around.  
_"Gosh, it's like a ghost-town!"_ Ellis exclaimed, looking around the broken city in amazement. Thethy had killed the small amount of zombies before, but now none remained. The only evidence of zombie activity was the state of the town and the decomposing bodies on the floor.  
_"Thank God it ain't no zombie-town, I'm running outta Ammo..."_ Coach mumbled, checking his shotgun. As if by magic, a safehouse was just ahead, and it was set up in a gun store! They began to walk a bit quicker, but Zoey was stumbling behind because she was carrying the bag.  
_"Let me carry it ma'am, no use letting the littlest outta everyone carry somethin' heavy!"_ Ellis smiled, taking the back and placing it on his back.  
_"Thanks... Ellis..."_ Zoey began, feeling weak. They continued onwards but the road seemed to stretch out more and more, like dough.  
_"Yeah... Um, Zoey? Before you got into the helicopter, did you see something I wrote in the safehouse?"_ Ellis asked hesitantly, waiting for the rejection to hit him in the face.  
_"It was a pretty vague declaration of your love for me, but I think I got the message..."_ Zoey replied, smiling to herself.  
_"Sorry, the pen was runnin' out and I were told to hurry up. Besides, there was so much writin' on the walls that I didn't have enough room to-"_  
_"Ditto."_ Zoey interrupted and continued walking. Ellis was confused now.  
_"What do you mean?"_ Ellis asked, trying to keep up.  
_"I love you too."_ Zoey replied nonchalantly, stopping Ellis in his tracks, and stopping his heart-rate at the same time. For once he was speechless, he didn't know what to say. He rushed back over as they reached the safehouse, now he couldn't continue the conversation as Nick was there, waiting to be an embarrassment.  
Inside were the most amazing guns, and so much ammo to be used on the bastard zombies. Throwing the bag onto the floor, Ellis opened it.  
_"Do you have any food? I haven't eaten in 5 days..."_ Ellis asked  
_"8 days, I'm winning!"_ Nick interrupted triumphantly, snatching the bag and pulling out a box of cereal.  
_"EVERYONE needs to eat."_ Zoey snatched the box and took out 3 bowls from the bag and poured very generous amounts of the cereal into the bowls and handed them to everyone.  
_"Ain't ya gonna have some?"_ Coach asked through a mouth full of food, noticing Zoey wasn't eating.  
_"Oh, I have bulimia, so there's no point in wasting food."_ She replied slowly.  
_"When did you last eat?"_ Ellis spoke up. Zoey shrugged.  
_"Damn, you gotta eat!"_ Ellis was serious for once, getting up.  
_"Seriously, I'll just throw it back up, so it'll just be-"_ Because Zoey could finish her sentence Ellis had her in a gentle headlock and held out his bowl.  
_"Eat!"_ Ellis ordered, then sat her down with the bowl.  
_"Stop, I'll just-"_  
_"Eat."_ Ellis interrupted defiantly, Zoey rolled her eyes and took a flake of cereal, then put it in her mouth.  
_"There you go."_ Zoey spoke in victory, smirking at him.  
_"Nah, that's not what I meant... What's yer favourite food?"_  
_"Peanut butter, it's the only thing I can keep down." _  
_"Great! Let's find us some peanut butter then!" _  
_"No, don't worry."_  
_"Nah, it'll be fun. Where's the nearest store?"_ Ellis was already up and ready to go, loading his shotgun with as many bullets as it could take. Zoey groaned, then took out her twin-pistols.  
_"Make sure ya'll bring me some chocolate?"_ Coach called out to the two as they left.  
_"And some suit-polish, or at least a washing-machine."_ Nick spoke sarcastically. Pretty much everyone was resisting the urge to punch him right in his smug face, that would take the wind out of his sails. The two staggered out of the safehouse, their bodies weaker than usual due to the amount of energy they didn't have. Every step was tiring.  
_"I told you this was a waste of time..."_ Zoey mumbled, as the two struggled to walk.  
_"Nah, nah. It's fine. We just gotta get to that store right there, find us some stuff and get back."_ Ellis replied, sounding a lot more confident than he felt.  
_"Seriously? You think it will be THAT easy?"_ Zoey asked with a raised eyebrow. Nothing was ever easy since the green flu began. They continued to the end of the street where they found a superstore. The windows were smashed and the whole building looked like it was going to collapse any minute. The inside wasn't a great improvement, most shelves were empty due to the supplies being taken during the panic. Zoey side-stepped across the aisles to find Coach's chocolate.  
_"So, is there anything you like?"_ Zoey asked, trying to make conversation. Ellis shrugged and continued searching.  
_"I like beer. S'all me an' my buddy Keith would drink before the flu broke out. One time, Keith had a few too many and started driving his truck around the block, then hit my sister with it."_ Ellis replied, the memories of Keith flooding back.  
_"Was she okay?"_ Zoey asked, horrified.  
_"Yeah, Keith didn't crash her or nothin' just hit someone and went off the road..."_ Ellis began, then realized what Zoey meant._ "Oh... Yeah, Flo was okay, she just hit her head on the floor after she went over the truck."_  
Zoey couldn't decide if this Keith was a madman, or a genius. The way he and Ellis used to own the world, living life to the full. She used to spend her time watching movies or skipping college.  
_"You like beer?"_ Ellis asked, while rummaging through cardboard-boxes.  
_"I've never had alcohol. One reason is that I've never been old enough to drink it, and mom treated me like a child constantly. I wasn't very popular, so I was stuck with my family all the time, unless I took a walk by myself or something."_ Zoey answered, almost pained at how boring her life sounded.  
_"I found peanut butter!"_ Ellis yelled, waving the jar above his head as if it was a trophy.  
_"As luck would have it; I found a 6-pack of beer and a box of chocolate!"_ Zoey replied, holding the two separate products up. As they were about to leave, Ellis stopped.  
_"Poor Nick might feel left out, so why don't we find him somethin'?"_  
_"Like what?"_ Zoey asked, then sighed in understanding as Ellis walked towards the cash-register. After pulling open the drawer, Ellis took out all the money from there.  
_"That should keep him happy for an hour."_ Ellis smiled, digging the money into his pocket. They left the shop without saying a word, just walking until Ellis decided to break the awkward silence.  
_"Hey, Zoey... You know... What you said?"_ Ellis choose his words carefully, trying not to sound desperate.  
_"I have said a lot of things in my lifetime, so you'll have to be a tad more specific."_ Zoey replied with a smile.  
_"Oh... Well, when you said... You know?"_ Now Zoey understood.  
_"What about it?"_  
_"You just sounded like you didn't... Care."_  
_"It's not really a huge deal, is it? I mean, we both love for each other, so why make it seem like something bad?"_  
_"Well... It's just... I've never actually had a girlfriend, so all this is kinda new to me."_  
_"You're kidding? You of all people never had a girlfriend? I can understand why I have never had a boyfriend, but you?" "Seriously. I ain't never had a girl of my own."  
"Well, now you do!" _Zoey replied calmly, edging closer as they walked and slowly wrapping her hand around his. Ellis smiled back and the two continued walking, holding hands.  
The safehouse-door fell open, and the two young adults walked in.  
_"S'really weird, not a damn zombie in sight!"_ Ellis said, slightly worn out from the long walk._ "And we got our stuff!"_ Ellis held a white, plastic bag and pulled out the beer. All three men cheered in delight at this news, but Coached cheered the loudest when his box of chocolate came out of the bag, and into his lap.  
_"Hell yeah! This'll keep me tight."_ Coach smiled, pulling open the box with his gloved hands.


	19. Chapter 19- We Need Guns!

Chapter 19- We need guns!

_"So why did you come back again?"_ Nick asked, he didn't listen the first time and sure wasn't now.  
_"Really? I swear I already told you this. Whatever, I came back because the government is total bullshit."_ Zoey replied, and everyone gestured her to continue.  
_"And Why is the government bullshit?"_ Ellis asked.  
_"Oh, hell..."_ Zoey muttered under her breath. _"When you get to be rescued by CEDA, they test you and pretty much kill you if you're a carrier... Like I am."_  
_"What the fuck is a carrier? Some type of zombie?"_ Nick's voice was becoming more and more sarcastic.  
_"I'm infected, but I won't become a zombie. I infect people around me, but you three are lucky to be immune or something."_  
The three men sighed almost at the same time. Then Nick stood up.  
_"Come on. I think it's time to get out of this shithole."_ He said, taking the lead of the group. Everyone else got up shakily. The saferoom was full of guns, but not ammunition. How were they supposed to fight through any zombies without any firearms? Melee weapons would have to do. Luckily there was a wide range of them along the walls.  
_"Hell yes! A fuckin' chainsaw!"_ Coach yelled, picking up the large weapon. The noise of the working-chainsaw echoed through the entire room. Nick saw something shiny, that was always lucky! He drew a machete from a messy corner of the room and admired it. Zoey took hold of a frying pan, much to Nick's joy.  
_"Ha!"_ Nick laughed, and received hateful glares from everyone else. Ellis snatched a poorly-made baseball bat and took a few practice swings on the air. Everyone had a weapon, they were full of health and ready to kill. Coach kicked open the safehouse door and positioned his chainsaw directly in front of him. Outside there were very few zombies, 10, maybe 15. They were easily killed and the four survivors marched onward, following the signs throughout the city to the port. All of the streets looked the same, the buildings were similar and the zombies were identical. The four survivors reached a giant water-fountain in the center of the road, where witch after witch surrounded it.  
_"Holy shit! It's like the plantation. There's gotta be like 30 witches here!"_ Nick whispered, his voice rasping slightly. Suddenly, all of the witches began stirring, and slowly stood up. They turned to Coach, and began to limp towards him.  
_"Shit! Coach, it's the chocolate, they're attracted to sugar! You have to run!"_ Zoey said frantically, Coach gave a worried-face but turned and ran away. The others followed where Coach went, but couldn't see him anywhere. That was until Coach let out a painful yelp, and the others found him being attacked by a hunter. With some successful swings of Nick's machete, the hunter was ragdoll'd across the street, and only the distinctive growl was proving that it was alive. Before it could pounce, it was knocked onto the ground by the force of a horde. The hunter was killed by a mass of zombies chasing the survivors. The 4 renegades out-ran the horde, and was soon lost in the decaying streets. The horde was coming, but the survivors had no idea where they were going, until Zoey helpfully found a narrow alley leading to the main road. The four quietly rushed into the alley, as the horde ran past.  
_"Fucking idiots!"_ Nick scoffed, luckily not catching the attention of the zombies. Coach continued to lead the group through the dark path. The air was becoming thick and grey. Fog? Smoke? Whatever it was the survivors didn't like it. They reached the main road again, and this time there were no zombies. It was a total ghost town... Creepy.

**_"Bill! No!"_**** Zoey could only manage those words. There was so much else, she wanted to hug him and tell him that she loved him. Zoey had developed an unconditional bond with her new friends, and Bill was her father-figure. Zoey couldn't lose another rolemodel in her life to the zombie apocalypse. Bill always survived, right? Her heart stopped completely and time began to slow down. She could only watch with tearful eyes as her beloved Bill sacrificed himself for the others. She could feel her heart shattering into a million pieces, but that was only the beginning of the pain that would unfold.**

_"Zo? Zoey? Say somethin'."_ Ellis asked with such innocence as he saw Zoey spacing-out.  
_"Bi- What?"_ Zoey replied, almost saying Bill's name out loud. Ellis could tell something was making her depressed, he would be very persistent if she didn't tell him.  
_"What's wrong? You look real sad..."_ Ellis inquired, a comforting smile forming.  
"_I just... I miss B-Bill. I can't believe that he sacrificed himself for us all."_  
_"Y'know, I'd sacrifice my life for all you..."_  
_"No. There's no way you're going to do that. None of us will."_ Zoey insisted, her green eyes looked fierce. _"Have you ever lost someone really important to you? Someone you have to blame yourself for every second of every day?"_  
_"There was... One."_ Ellis began, but he couldn't bear to say the name.  
_"It's okay, I understand."_ Zoey replied.  
_"Hey, you two! Quit the chit-chat. If you can't keep up, we won't come back for you!"_ Nick sneered, giving the same look he always did; a raised upper-lip and arched eyebrows.  
_"Sorry... Jeez!"_ Ellis mumbled, looking like he had just been yelled at.  
_"You know you don't have to put up with his attitude, I can go and beat him to death with my frying pan if you want. That'll be the lesser of two evils, won't it?"_ Zoey said, half-jokingly. Ellis gave a cheerful smile, but his eyes looked unhappy. The dreadful memories of Keith came flooding back again. The pain in Keith's eyes as the wound on his arm slowly began to turn him into a zombie.  
**_"Ellis, no homo or nothin'... But I love you!"_**** Keith managed through chokes. Ellis took hold of Keith's hand and took the gun from the floor.**  
**_"I love you too, buddy..."_**** Ellis said, and with that, he aimed the gun at Keith's head and took the shot.**

Ellis quickly shook the memory away as Coach made a happy noise.  
_"We did it y'all! I see the port!"_ Coach yelled with happiness. Everyone else cheered, but it sounded false to them all. What Coach didn't see was between them and the port. Zombies. Lots and lots of zombies. To make matters worse, there were about 4 noticeable tanks wandering aimlessly. They were on higher ground than the zombies, and they needed to make their way down the cliff-like hill. It was probably about 8-feet tall. Zoey took a step forward, but the unstable ground crumbled, and Zoey slipped, and crashed down the hill. Zoey hit against the sharp rock of the hill, trying to stop herself from falling, but hit the ground with a great deal of force.  
_"Zoey!"_ Ellis yelled, but didn't get a reply. However, he managed to catch the attention of the zombies. The zombies formed into a horde and began to climb up the cliff.  
_"Thanks alot overalls!"_ Nick growled, and began to slice as the zombie-hands as the reached the top. The tanks came thundering over, sending giant slabs of concrete over to where the survivors stood. They missed, but came closer.  
_"We really need guns! How the fuck are we gonna do this?"_ Coach shouted, his chainsaw was slowing running out of energy.  
_"Maybe we should check the bodies of those Military-people over there by the car! They might have guns!"_ Nick noticed a small pile of bodies on the other side of the port.  
_"I'll hold these off with Ellis, you run and find some guns!"_ Coach ordered, and Nick set off straight away. Nick rushed around the edge of the cliff and found a set of stairs, he ran down them and headed towards the bodies with the 4 tanks chasing him. Ellis couldn't move at all, Zoey was somewhere down there, maybe being eaten by zombies or just dead. He couldn't stand it any longer, he took out a pipe-bomb he was hiding in his pocket, then threw it towards the opposite side of the port. The bleeping sound caught the attention of the zombies, and they rushed over to the noise. Ellis ran to the set of stairs and towards the bottom. There he saw Zoey laying motionless on the ground, covered in blood. Ellis panicked as he got closer, the damage was looking even worse than when he had first seen her. He lifted her up and carried her in a baby-fashion.  
_"S'alright Zoey, we're nearly outta here."_ Ellis whispered to Zoey, whether she could hear it or not. Zoey's face was covered in small cuts, but blood was rushing out of her nose and her mouth was bleeding. Her arms were covered in larger cuts, and Ellis could see that her left-arm was fractured. _"Coach, c'mon! We gotta help Nick!"_ Ellis shouted to Coach, who nodded in agreement and followed him. The pipe-bomb had taken out most of the zombies, and the remaining were weakened. Suddenly a stampede of zombies rushed over, so Coach and Ellis needed to speed up. Ellis was running faster and the zombies were soon a greater distance away from him, but his knees suddenly buckled in exhaustion, and he tripped. Zoey fell out of his arms and rolled across the floor. The stampede suddenly ran over both of them, causing even more damage. Ellis could feel his ribs cracking under the pressure, his lungs were tightening as more and more zombies trampled over him. Although Ellis was in so much pain, he noticed that the zombies seemed to be running away from something. Ellis couldn't breathe, his eyes grew weaker, and he began to fall into the darkness.

Coach was lucky enough to dodge the zombies, and was anxiously searching for Ellis.  
_"Ellis? You there?"_ Coach shouted to the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ellis' pale-yellow shirt through the horde. Coach grabbed the baseball bat Ellis had left behind and began to smash through the zombies swiftly, until he could see Ellis, who wasn't moving.  
_"Oh, Ell-"_ Coach mumbled, but was cut short by zombies knocking him out of the way. Coach landed on his back and struggled to get back up. The stampede was close to ending, only a few more seconds and they would have passed...

Nick searched through the pile, he found a medkit, and a molotov, but no guns. Nick stepped back in anger, before he started punching the closest body, then noticed the tanks behind him. He ran to the other side of the car, which was broken-down. The nearest tank punched the black car, and Nick dodged as it flipped above him. Nick saw a tactical shotgun were the car used to be and grabbed it. There was plenty of ammo left. Nick shot at the tanks, but took was knocked away by a gigantic fist, and hit the floor violently. Nick still had the gun, and took more shots at them. One tank was killed, and Nick began to aim at the next one. Only one fatal blow would incapacitate him, so he tried to dodge every punch.

Coach watched as the stampede finally left, and found Ellis curled up in the foetal-position. Ellis was covered in dust and cuts, his eyes were swelling and his skin was bruising.  
_"Ellis?"_ Coach begged, grabbing Ellis' shoulder.  
_"Ahh! I'm down!"_ A voice yelled a distance away from Coach, and he turned quickly to see Nick on the floor surrounded by 3 tanks.


	20. Chapter 20- guide me to victory bitches!

Chapter 20- Guide me to victory, bitches!

_**Author's note: Hi readers, I've been so unlucky with this chapter, so far it's been accidentally deleted 4 times. This is mostly because technology sucks and breaks all the time, the other factor is that I forget to save o_O Anywhore; I've never actually said thanks to reviewers or told you about my life :3... It sucks. But thank you to the followers, favouriters, reviewers and especially the readers. If you are all of the above then that just adds even more importance to my mind, and I love you all in a non-romantic/friendship/objective way. It's more unconditional than anything else :P This is the finale of this God-awful story, to which hasn't had an actual plot, so for that I am sorry. Please enjoy the last chapter, and I'm sorry if you got bored of my irritating bitching! Enjoy...**_

Ellis. Zoey. Nick. They couldn't help, it was all up to Coach. Three tanks approached him, rage and hunger overcoming them into attacking. Coach took hold of a shotgun obviously lost by a zombie that was once a survivor, and aimed it at the closest tank. The bullet penetrated the mangled skin of the tank's face, breaking the jaw and travelling through the neck which sent blood everywhere. The tank stumbled backwards, stunned at the shot, but swiftly brought up the pace. Coach staggered over the bodies of dead zombies, and tried to get the tanks away from his friends.

Zoey fell out of oblivion, and hit reality hard. Dust covered her vision, and aching pain tore through her body. She couldn't move anything, only her head. Her red, teary eyes shifted across the open space and focused on Ellis laying on the floor only a meter away from her.  
**"Ellis..."** She choked, her voice rasping from pain and dehydration. She tried to hold out a wounded hand, and grasped the tips of Ellis' fingers, as far as she could reach.  
**"I love you."** She was able to manage, her voice beginning to tremble with fear. Fear that Ellis may be dead, fear that she may die, and fear that her friends had died in vain. No movie-quote? No epic last words? Just what was on her mind. She had always believed she would have a cool quote to say when she died. Her eyes welled with tears, and she let herself fall asleep.

Coach picked up a gas canister from a pile of supplies, and threw it at one of the tanks. Coach took a shot at the metal object, and the pressure caused it to explode. Burning flesh and a loud bang was all Coach could sense, and he turned away from the mess. One of the tanks had exploded with the canister. The other two tanks were close, their gross skin now slightly charred by the explosion. Coach reloaded his shotgun as he ran, and began shooting bullet after bullet at them. Coach looked at one tank in it's distorted face before shooting it in the eyes. The loud roaring turned into a high-pitched scream before falling to the ground. For a split-second Coach watched the dead tank with sympathy, but a force pushed him away. Coach landed on his back, but still clutched his shotgun. He got up and tried to shoot at the tank. He knew he was running low on ammo, so he ran in the opposite direction and grabbed Nick's ringed hand to pull him up.  
**"Thanks. But what the hell are you doing? There's a fucking tank behind us!"** Nick yelled, quickly grabbing his Magnum and shooting at the tank. The overly-muscular beast kept attacking, swinging it's giant fists and roaring at its prey. Coach pulled the trigger of his gun, but the bullets were all gone. Coach grabbed the barrel of his shotgun and threw it at the tank, which made the beast stumble back. The beast clenched it's fists and readied a swing, but a quick bullet through the head ended its life. Nick pulled his Magnum away, and turned to Coach.  
**"What do we do now?"** He asked, breathing heavily. Coach let out a dry cough, and exhaled loudly.  
**"We gotta get Ellis and Zoey, then get a boat."** Coach told Nick, before stumbling over to Ellis' lifeless body.  
**"D'you think they're alive?"** Nick asked, slightly timid.  
**"They gotta be, Nick. That's all we can hope for..."** Coach replied in a wheezy cough, and pulled Ellis up to carry him across the deserted pier. Ellis let out a loud choke, and groaned in pain.  
**"Did we make it?"** He asked, unable to carry himself.  
**"I hope we did."** Coach replied. Nick stood in the vast wasteland for a moment before turning to Zoey, who was laying on the hard ground, face down. Nick pulled up her small frame and carried her towards Coach. The old pier was a wooden boardwalk of rickety planks and unstable structure. In the distance of the deep blue sea was a far away place, presumably New Orleans. The buildings in the distance were ablaze, orange flames licked the early morning sky and dark grey smoke discolored the once flawless sky. Both Nick and Coach shuddered, Rochelle's body would have been there.  
**"There's a boat here. Let's hope it works..."** Coach mumbled, standing in front of a small white yacht. Rust travelled along the sides of the machine, and various blood-stains appeared on the inside. Pulling himself and Ellis onto the bobbing boat, putting down the almost-dead weight onto the floor, Coach looked towards the door of the yacht. Could there be food? Water? A shower? Zombies?  
**"Imma gonna go sleep now..."** Ellis yawned, and turned away from the rising sun. Coach found a pile of ammo in the corner of the yacht, and quickly threw in a few shells into his shotgun. Slowly, he made his way to the entrance, a deathly smell hitting him as soon as he opened the door. Bloody hand-prints covered the archway, and dragged into the darkness. Coach put a hand on the wall, feeling for a light-switch. Finally feeling one, he changed the switch, but a light did not respond. However, a light flickered in the short distance. Coach waited for it to turn on, and steadily walked across the room. The furniture used to be luxurious, but most covered in blood and some trashed. There was a large bed at the end, and a corpse was laying on the soft mattress. Coach aimed his gun at the head, and nudged it with his foot. Red eyes opened suddenly, and let out a demonic hiss. Coach kicked it off the bed and pulled the trigger on his gun. Blood and skull ripped across the wall behind it, and the headless body fell to the ground. Coach let out a sigh and wiped his forehead, then dragged the body out of the yacht. The sunlight burned his eyes as he came out, he had been in the darkness for too long. Throwing the body into the clear water, he turned away from it.  
**"What's it like down there?"** Nick asked breathlessly, sitting down and Zoey laying unconscious next to him.  
**"Damn, boy. You don't even wanna know."** Coach told him.  
**"So it's disgusting... Nothing like a bit of cleaning and it'll be great!"** Nick replied.  
**"It's not like you to be positive about somethin'."** Coach said, with an eyebrow raised quizzically.  
**"Whatever. You try to get the boat to work, I'll search down there."** Nick said, and wandered off down to the inside.  
**"Jesus Christ! It fuckin' stinks down here!"** Nick yelled, his voice quivering with nausea. Coach smirked as he walked up the short staircase to where all the dials and steering wheel rested. Blood also stained the ground of that, but Coach ignored it as he looked at the strange driving-tools. Buttons, dials, lights. What were they?  
**"Nick? You ever drive a yacht before?"** Coach yelled down to the living area.  
**"Yeah, just find the key and turn it in the switch."** Nick yelled back. Coach looked for the switch, but no key was there. Coach ran outside, and looked through the bags for it. He found bottles of water, canned food, medkits and a few pistols. No key. Coach searched the next bag on the other side, but was stopped by a shining light blinding him. He held a hand over his eyes, and looked towards where it was coming from. The zombie's body was floating above the water, and the light was coming from something around its neck, which was reflecting light from the sun. Coach soon realised it was the key, hanging from a lace tied around the zombie's neck. Coach reached for the key, but could get close enough. His arm was aching from having to reach so far, but still couldn't get the key. Grabbing the zombie's cold, dead hand he managed to pull the body closer to the boat and snatch the key, snapping the lace. Coach rushed back to the driving area and pushed in the key. He turned the switch and saw everything come to life. **"Hell yeah!"** He yelled, punching the air in victory. Coach then turned back towards the two casualties he had left; Ellis and Zoey. He pulled out two medkits and cleaned the wounds covering Ellis' body. Coach took out a needle and wire to stitch up the worst of Ellis' wounds. He wrapped up the now stitched wounds in white bandages, then took the other medkit and cleaned all of Zoey's cuts. He stitched up the large gash on her arm and wrapped her fractured arm in a poorly-folded sling. Coach sat in the sun for a while, breathing in the fresh air. Not a single zombie was around for a change, so nothing could ruin the moment.

Ellis was in pain. His bones ached, his arms hurt, everything hurt. He turned to Coach with bruised eyes and let out a cough.  
**"Coach? Y'know that horde runnin' away? What were they runnin' from?"** Ellis asked.  
**"I... I don't know. Probably the tanks or somethin'."** Coach replied, wiping the beads of sweat from his wrinkled forehead.  
**"Is Zoey okay?"** Ellis asked, looking at his angel.  
**"I think she'll make it..."** Coach said, hopefully. Nick came outside, a look of disgust unsettling his face.  
**"No zombies down there, but it's gross."** Nick complained, throwing down his shotgun and sitting down.  
**"So who's gonna drive?"** Coach asked, to which Ellis shot his hand up.  
**"Me! Me!"** He cried with excitement.  
**"I think Nick should do it, kid. He's done this before..."** Coach told him, and Ellis looked down with disappointment.  
**"Nick would probably sink this boat with his sarcasm..."** Came a wheezy voice behind them. Zoey was sitting up, eyes closed and not moving, but a smirk rested on her face.  
**"Hey! Shut up!"** Nick argued, but without as much seriousness as usual.  
**"So Zoey, how you feelin'?"** Ellis asked her cautiously.  
**"Ever been manhandled by a tank while a witch beats the shit out of you?"** She asked rhetorically. **"That's how I feel."**  
**"Damn... You need some meds?"**  
**"Nah, I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes and I'll bounce back..."** She replied. Nick decided to start the boat, and Coach took the supplies inside.  
**"Zo... I heard what you said..."** Ellis began after making sure it was just him and Zoey, stammering slightly.  
**"What did I say?"** She asked, eyes still shut.  
**"You said you loved me..."** He replied, and Zoey's eyes shot open.  
**"Yeah, what's the problem?" **  
**"Nothin', nothin'. Just thought I should say I love you too..."** He replied, and Zoey's eyes softened. The yacht suddenly jerked forwards, and then smoothly sailed across the sea. Everyone cheered in victory. They were finally free. Off to Banoi. Off to paradise...

_**So... That was the end of it... Please review... Or don't, whatever floats your boat. So long as it isn't water? Did you enjoy it? Was it not as awful as I think it is? Cliché? Please note that I'm 15... To which I believe I was 14 when I started writing this, so accuracy in emotions isn't my strongest point, especially being a boy, as we are stereotyped as being emotionless. The inspirational music really helped, and various other stories, to which there was one I can't remember the name of, which sucks because I really want to read it again. I remember Zoey fell from something trying to escape infected... That's all I remember. Bye now, this is TheAssassinOfBadassness. I bid you goodbye until my next story. This song is excellent! It's Paramore My Heart. I love it so much! Byeeeeeeeeeee**_


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